By RACHEL COHEN AP Sports Writer
The banned substance linked to Manny Ramirez is commonly taken by steroid users but also can be prescribed for other conditions.
A person familiar with the details of the suspension said Ramirez provided a urine sample during spring training that tested positive for HCG, Human Chorionic Gonadotropin . The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the banned substance wasn’t announced.
HCG, added to baseball’s banned substances list last year, is popular among users of performance-enhancing drugs because it can mitigate the side effects of ending a cycle of steroids. The body may stop producing testosterone when a user goes off steroids, which can cause sperm counts to decrease and testicles to shrink.
“They use Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) to essentially jump start testosterone production,” said Ruth Wood, an expert in steroid abuse at the University of Southern California.
The drug could have appropriate uses unconnected to steroid abuse, said Dr. Gary Wadler, who leads the committee that determines the banned-substances list for the World Anti-Doping Agency. HCG can treat male infertility and testosterone deficiency, he said.
“It’s not necessarily the drug of choice, but those are acceptable uses,” Wadler said.
Ramirez said in a statement he did not take steroids but that a doctor gave him medication for “a personal health issue.”
Every baseball player is tested each year within five days of reporting to spring training and again at a randomly selected unannounced date. There are 1,200 additional unannounced tests of randomly selected players, including up to 375 during the offseasons from 2008 through the start of spring training in 2011.
“We have no knowledge of the Ramirez case, but it’s highly unlikely an otherwise healthy, young athlete would need Human Chorionic Gonadotropin for a legitimate medical reason,” said U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart. “That said, if there was valid medical need, his high-priced representatives should be fired for not ensuring that he was informed of the process that could have granted him permission to use it.”
Athletes in the BALCO scandal have been linked to the female fertility drug Clomid.
Side effects of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin include headache, mood swings and depression, Wadler said. The anti-doping community has been familiar with HCG for more than 20 years, he added.
HCG is prescribed to treat infertility in women by triggering ovulation. The hormone naturally occurs in pregnant women – home pregnancy kits test for one portion of the HCG molecule, Wood said.
AP Baseball Writer Ron Blum in New York and National Writer Eddie Pells in Colorado Springs, Colo., contributed to this report.
Showing posts with label human chorionic gonadotropin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label human chorionic gonadotropin. Show all posts
Wednesday
Why is HCG Used as a Performance Enhancing Drug
In the world of performance enhancing drugs, Human Chorionic Gonadotropin hCG is increasingly used in combination with various anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) cycles. As a result, hCG is included in some sports' illegal drug lists.
When AAS are put into a male body, the body's natural negative-feedback loops cause the body to shut down its own production of testosterone via shutdown of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPGA). This causes testicular atrophy, among other things. Human Chorionic Gonadotropin HCG is commonly used during and after steroid cycles to maintain and restore testicular size as well as normal testosterone production.
High levels of AASs that mimic the body's natural testosterone trigger the hypothalamus to shut down its production of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from the hypothalamus. Without GnRH, the pituitary gland stops releasing luteinizing hormone (LH). LH normally travels from the pituitary via the blood stream to the testes, where it triggers the production and release of testosterone. Without LH, the testes shut down their production of testosterone. In males, Human Chorionic Gonadotropin helps restore and maintain testosterone production in the testes by mimicking LH and triggering the production and release of testosterone.
If HCG is used for too long and in too high a dose, the resulting rise in natural testosterone will eventually inhibit its own production via negative feedback on the hypothalamus and pituitary.
.
When AAS are put into a male body, the body's natural negative-feedback loops cause the body to shut down its own production of testosterone via shutdown of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPGA). This causes testicular atrophy, among other things. Human Chorionic Gonadotropin HCG is commonly used during and after steroid cycles to maintain and restore testicular size as well as normal testosterone production.
High levels of AASs that mimic the body's natural testosterone trigger the hypothalamus to shut down its production of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from the hypothalamus. Without GnRH, the pituitary gland stops releasing luteinizing hormone (LH). LH normally travels from the pituitary via the blood stream to the testes, where it triggers the production and release of testosterone. Without LH, the testes shut down their production of testosterone. In males, Human Chorionic Gonadotropin helps restore and maintain testosterone production in the testes by mimicking LH and triggering the production and release of testosterone.
If HCG is used for too long and in too high a dose, the resulting rise in natural testosterone will eventually inhibit its own production via negative feedback on the hypothalamus and pituitary.
.
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